


Don't Believe What You See.

by BarPurple



Series: Mollcroft for the win [5]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Comfort, Emotional Hurt, F/M, Journalism, Mild Language, Mild Sexual Content, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-08
Updated: 2015-12-08
Packaged: 2018-05-05 16:49:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5382974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BarPurple/pseuds/BarPurple
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is not how anyone should fine out their relationship isn't exclusive.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DanannB](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DanannB/gifts).



> DanannB left this prompt on Coffee
> 
> They've been dating a few weeks and Molly is becoming more confident in their relationship, although they haven't had the 'let's be exclusive' talk and so is not entirely certain where they stand. Mycroft attends a highly publicized event and is captured in photos with another guest in what seems to be an intimate moment.
> 
> And this fic happened.

“When did you and that toff break up?”

Molly swallowed her mouthful of Chicken Alfredo as she frowned at Donna. She wasn’t especially friendly with the admin assistant, but this had been the only seat available in the busy canteen.

“His name’s Mycroft and we haven’t broken up.”

Donna’s pencilled on eyebrows rose in surprise.

“Oh. Didn’t have you pegged as the open relationship type, is all.”

Molly’s puzzled frown deepened as Donna slid the magazine she’d been leafing through across the table towards her.

“I mean he’s not what I’d call attractive, but there’s something about him, I suppose. That’s definitely not you in the picture is it?”

Molly’s heart sank as she spotted the picture Donna was talking about in the glossy spread of images from last night’s gala event at the French Embassy. She’d had to work so hadn’t been able to attend with Mycroft. He assured her that her night in the morgue would be more fun than the tedious black tie gathering of politicians and diplomats.

She’d laughed at him, but it looked like the joke was on her.

There in full colour was Mycroft with another woman. The woman’s back was to the camera and his face was partially obscured by her fabulous thick black hair, but it was clear that he had either just kissed her, or was about to kiss her. The tilt of their heads, the way his hand was raised to her face, it was all there.

“Oh my God! Did you not know about this? Oh honey, what a way to find out that posh twat is cheating on you.”

The glee at the prospect of being first with the gossip was evident in Donna’s voice. Molly’s stomach lurched at the prospect of spending the rest of the day as the subject of pitying looks. The whispers would start within the hour; Donna was faster than Twitter when it came to spreading gossip. Molly pushed her plate away and stood up from the table, muttering something about having to get back to work. If Donna was concerned about Molly’s hasty departure it certainly didn’t show on her smugly grinning face.

Molly detoured into the nearest loo to take a moment to compose herself. She stared at her face in the mirror and reviewed the facts. Yes, Mycroft and her had been dating for a little over two months, but they hadn’t had a conversation about being exclusive. True, it wasn’t a conversation she worried about having; she was a one man woman, always had been. Perhaps this was her own fault for assuming that Mycroft followed the same traditional relationship conventions as she did. If she was guilty of assuming monogamy then Mycroft was guilty of assuming that she’d be okay with an open relationship. 

She slammed her hands against the sink as an angry thought jumped into her head. This wasn’t fair, not after they’d had to work through his recent jealously. How could he react like that if she spoke to another man, but think it was acceptable for him to be kissing other women in public? The double standard galled her.

“Get a grip, Molly.”

Until she talked to him face to face, she would know for sure what was going on in that head of his. Molly didn’t want to see other people, but if he was under the illusion that it wouldn’t bother her if he did, she’d tell him to sling his hook tonight. Her insides twisted a little at the very thought that tonight might see the end of the relationship that had been making her so happy. 

She almost threw up as her treacherous mind brought something else to her attention. What if he was sleeping with this woman? They used condoms for full sex, but he’d assured her he was clean so they’d forgone protection for oral sex. The idea that he might have been so casual with her health disgusted her.

“For fuck’s sake!”

She was jumping ahead of the situation again. One picture of him kissing another woman and her mind was spinning worst case scenarios. The reality was bad enough; she didn’t need to make herself feel worse. She’d just have to focus on her work and wait until she saw Mycroft this evening. Bracing herself to face the whispers no doubt already rustling the leaves of St Barts grapevine Molly went back to work.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anthea had had to interrupt Mycroft's lunch plenty of times before, but she was no happy at being the bearer of this bad news.

“Sir, would you mind putting you cutlery down before I show you this?”

Mycroft raised an eyebrow at Anthea’s request, but complied and dabbed at his mouth with a napkin while he waited to see what this was about. He was surprised when instead of a memo or file folder Anthea handed him a copy of some glossy society magazine. She backed away from the table before saying;

“Page 27, sir.”

Mycroft thumbed through until he found the relevant page. He instantly recognized the photos as being of that deadly dull gala he’d been forced to attend last night. 

Anthea saw the exact moment he spotted the picture of himself by the way his lips thinned and his jaw tightened. The less subtle indication was the way he slammed the magazine down on the table so hard his abandoned lunch plate rattled. She wasn’t entirely sure how he would deal with this apparently intimate picture. He’d not had a relationship during her time as his PA until now, so she didn’t have any prior information to go on. He would either be calm and composed, or explode like he did when Sherlock did something ridiculous. Currently she suspected all hell was about to break loose.

“Bring me the head of the editor.”

The venom in his tone was as terrifying as the sincerity with which the order was delivered.

Sir, I’m going to choose to believe you requested me to arrange an appointment with the Editor-in-Chief, rather than ordering me to decapitate a member of the British Press.”

Mycroft frowned at her, anger radiating from his eyes. Anthea had never worried about rushing in where angels fear to tread, but she was apprehensive about what she was going to say next; after all she was no fool.

“A meeting has already been arranged, but might I suggest the priority should be to reassure Doctor Hooper of the true nature of the pictured moment.”

Mycroft’s frown of rage softened into one of puzzlement. Bloody hell, she’d thrown him a curve ball.

“Molly doesn’t read these magazines.”

“But many people at St Barts do. Your relationship with Doctor Hooper is known, the chances of someone showing her this are very high. Since it’s just after lunch I’m willing to bet she has seen it already.”

Her boss closed his eyes and gave a small sigh, a sure sign he was frustrated, annoyed or despairing at the antics of the general public. Eyes still closed he tilted his head toward the ceiling.

“Is there CCTV footage of the incident?”

“Yes sir, two cameras recorded it clearly.”

“From more accurate angles I hope.”

“Oh yes sir.”

Mycroft considered the best course of action for a moment. He couldn’t simply e-mail the footage to Molly; she didn’t have the required clearance, nor was her work PC secure enough. A simple phone call wouldn’t allow her to see the footage, so although he longed to speak with her, he disregarded that idea. Depending who had shown Molly the picture, she could have been subject to vicious glee and false sympathy, so his arrival at the morgue could possibly result in an unpleasant scene. Mycroft’s eyes snapped open as he reached a decision and he looked at Anthea hopefully.

“Since I can’t imagine Molly will be in the mood to see me, would you mind playing delivery girl for me in this situation, my dear?”

Anthea smiled and nodded.

“Roses or sunflowers, sir?”

Mycroft smiled at Anthea’s suggested gift, she really had an amazing grasp of fine detail.

“White roses are called for don’t you agree?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> White roses symbolize truth, which we are getting to I promise.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is being dumped by PA better or worse than by text message?

Molly watched sadly as Anthea walked across the morgue towards her office. He couldn’t even break up with her in person. Why was her taste in men so monumentally awful? Not for the first time Molly wondered what sort of evil bitch she’d been in a previous life to deserve such crappy relationships in this one.

The tide of misery was halted when Anthea put a laptop on the desk in front of her.

“Doctor Hooper, there is something you need to see.”

Not trusting that she wouldn’t burst into tears if she spoke Molly gave a weary nod. With a flurry of keystrokes Anthea called up a video player on the screen. Molly’s insides twisted, seeing the still photo had been bad enough, was she going to be subjected to a live action replay now?

She recognized last night’s party and spotted Mycroft instantly even though from this point of view his back was to the camera. There looked to be a respectable distance between him and the woman from this angle. Oh God, the woman he’d kissed was beautiful, stunning in fact.

“That is the wife of the French Ambassador,” Anthea provided.

Well at least she wasn’t the only one being cheated on. As Molly watched the woman blinked several times then her face twisted in discomfort. Molly frowned and unconsciously leant towards the screen. As she watched she saw Mycroft step closer and delicately pinch something from the woman’s cheek, just as a camera flashed in the background. He instantly moved back from her and motioned at one of the waiters circulating through the crowd.

“Madame Alméras has recently begun to wear contact lens. They were causing her much discomfort last night.”

Realisation dawned rapidly across Molly’s face.

“She’d blinked the lens out and Mycroft picked it from her face before it got lost.”

“Exactly. Mr Holmes asked the waiter to find Madame’s PA, who then escorted her upstairs to replace the problematic lens with her glasses. There is footage of her returning to the party wearing them should you wish to view it.”

Molly propped her elbows on her desk and dropped her head into her hands. The momentary relief she felt at learning the truth was quickly replaced by guilt for all the awful things she’d spent the past few hours thinking about Mycroft. When she raised her head Anthea was typing a rapid message on her mobile.

“I feel like a right idiot.”

Anthea smiled at her.

“Don’t, if I’d seen a picture like that of my significant other I would have been reaching for the bread knife.”

There was something a little scary about Anthea Molly thought. She was distracted from her mussing by the arrival of Mycroft’s driver carrying a bouquet of delicate white roses.

“H-hello Vincent,” she stammered.

“Good afternoon Doctor Hooper,” he placed the vase on her desk as he added, “From Mr Holmes.” 

With a polite nod to the two women Vincent left the office.

“Just so you know he want me to bring him the editor’s head when he saw the photo.”

Molly tore her eyes from the beautiful flowers and gapped at Anthea. She couldn’t suppress the giggle the escaped her.

“Is it bad of me to find that so sweet?”

“Nope,” Anthea grinned, “Can I tell him everything is alright now, or do I need to go and shorten someone’s career?”

Molly’s giggles proved infectious and for a few moments all that could be heard from the morgue office was laughter. Anthea smoothed her suit and picked up the laptop.

“I best get back to the office before he frets himself into starting a war. He’ll pick up on the first ring if you call him.”

Molly’s eyes had already strayed to her phone as she considered doing just that. She smile at Anthea and reached for the receiver.

“Thank you Anthea.”

“My pleasure Doctor Hooper.”

With that Anthea left the office, gently closing the door behind her.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A phone call puts the world to right.

Mycroft did indeed answer the phone on the first ring.

“Hello Molly.”

“Hey Mycroft. Anthea’s just left.”

“And you saw that the photo was…”

“An optical illusion caused by the angle, yes. It’s all fine.”

“Thank goodness. Has this been very awful for you?”

“Today’s not going on the list of my best days. It was my own fault for jumping to conclusions.”

“Don’t say that. The blame lies with the bloody editor.”

“Yes. Speaking of the editor, I won’t be finding a headless corpse on my slab tomorrow will I?”

“Ah. Anthea mentioned that did she?”

“Yes she did.”

“Have no fear. The body will never be found.”

“That better be a joke, Mycroft. Else you’ve just made me an accessory to pre-meditated murder.”

“Technically a government sanctioned hit.”

“Mycroft.”

“I jest. I promise.”

“Anthea said Madame Alméras is the Ambassador’s wife. That picture won’t cause an international incident will it?”

“I hadn’t given that a thought. I doubt there will be a problem on that score and if there is, well you’ve seen the proof that it was innocent.”

“Are you still coming over tonight?”

“Oh God yes. I want to worship you and kiss away every single hurt today has caused you.”

“Oh Mycroft, that sounds wonderful, much nicer than a journalist’s head on a plate.”

“That’s still an option if you wish.”

“No! Your lips on mine will be perfect.”

“Oh my kisses will be on more than just your lips my darling Molly.”

“I’m blushing now.”

“And I bet you look gorgeous. I’m going to have to get back to work; else I’m going to give in to the urge to steal you away from the morgue right now.”

“And just what would you do once you’d stolen me?”

“Oh Molly don’t. I can’t meet the Prime Minister sporting an erection.”

“You started it.”

“And I promise I will finish it tonight. Several times if you’ll let me.”

“I’ll hold you to that. Go rule the world. I’ll see you around seven.”

“Until then. Molly?”

“Mycroft?”

“I…You are the only woman I want in my life.”

“It’s so good to hear you say that. Bye for now Mycroft.”

“Bye Molly.”

Mycroft hung up with a bemused smile playing at the corners of his mouth. He couldn’t believe he’d almost said those three important words to her for the first time on the phone.


End file.
